A House In the Desert
by A Million Girl March
Summary: This is a look at the future of Trigun. And the interesting complications of Vash's realities and Meryl's moralities.
1. 1:Nowhere man

A house in the desert  
  
Disclamer: Trigun and all it's characters do not belong to me.  
  
NOTE: This might spoil many things for you. This is set after the last episode of Trigun. So read at your own risk. I can't even imagine the spoilers contained in this simply because the entire story is based off of the spoilers themselves.  
  
Author's note: I definatily think I might write more than this. Who knows? I wanted to write this out, simply because i do believe in a romance between Vash and Meryl. Not a very gushy one, mind you. Because they aren't soul mates i don't think. But I do think that they keep each other quite nicely. Maybe if i get good feedback I'll continue. I want to incorporate Milly and Knives, too. Of course, this is based on being strictly in character. Milly/Knives is stupid. don't expect it.   
  
Author's note to the MAX: by the way, i don't have any type of spellcheck on my computer. so forgive me.  
  
email address = AMillionGirlMarch@hotmail.com   
  
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A House in the desert  
  
(by a Million Girl March)  
  
The house stood in desert, a small town dotting the horizon. The night was familiar and cold. The air was quiet, and soft. A well was dug, and the outline of a large cross was lit faintly by the five moons sitting in the sky. Both momuments could be seen from the front porch of said house. Seen and purposfully put.   
  
"Vash, how old are you?" Meryl was quiet, and felt guilty for breaking their silence.   
  
He sat in a rocking chair, wearing pajamas. His hair was limping over his face, and untended stubble growing on his jaw. She wondered if he ever felt weary, or ever looked down on her for being young and mortal. He did not smile.  
  
" I don't really know anymore, " he was quiet. She looked at her feet.  
  
" How old were you when you did?" she didn't mean to pry. Well, that was a lie, she did mean to pry.   
  
" Hey, can't you tell? You're asleep right now. This is all a dream." He smiled. They sat in silence for a few awkward moments. She pulled her knees to her chin.  
  
" Vash, i always wanted to tell you that-" she was cut off.  
  
" What would you say if I told you that I'm the boogie man!" He stood and wiggled his hands at her. " Wake up quick or else you'll have nightmares!" He smiled again and walked to the door.  
  
She held her head in her hands and sighed. She heard the door creak open and shut behind her. She looked at the fifth moon and wondered how long it would take for the large crater to become familiar. Things like that...things like Vash...always faded away. From memory to rumor. Rumor to legend. Until in the end, it was as if it never happened. How long would it be until Vash no longer happened?   
  
" I just wanted to tell you that....." she whispered outloud.  
  
" I'm a man who you'd die for! Well let me tell you something, I'd die a thousand times, for the sake of love! The sake of love and women and freedom! On my white horse i shall gallop into the horizon to follow my dream of love! Do not be sad, do not cry for me lovely maiden! I am a man of destiny!" on one knee beside her, Vash held his hand over his heart and his other reached towards the sky.   
  
" I wanted to tell you that you've gotten real ugly since you stopped shaving!" she spat. He laughed and sat back down next to her. She did not laugh. She closed her eyes for a moment and sighed again. He looked at her and smiled. Her hair was longer. She looked much like Rem. But that wasn't why he liked her so much.   
  
" One hundred and thirty nine." he smiled at the ground. Her heart skipped a beat. She opened her eyes and stared at him. Impossible and unaged he sat beside her. She could feel his body heat, she could smell him and see his clear skin. She could see his hands, his chest. But it was hard to believe he was there at all.  
  
" I'm just the blink of an eye to you, Vash. I'm a minute of your time. But you're five hundred years to me." She was agast and her face was open and pained at the reality of her youth. She stopped talking and he looked at her with the eyes that frightened her. His seriousness was as startling as a bullet.   
  
" Every moment of a life is important. Your life isn't any less important than my own. Time means nothing." He put a hand on her sholder. " One single moment can last a lifetime."  
  
" You can't ever measure time, can you? You can't fit it in it a cup. You can't put it on a scale. For all we know, time isn't real. Then maybe you and I are the same age. Maybe i was born today."  
  
"Well, happy birthday." His arm was around her sholders.   
  
Life was different now. Life could never be the same. Rem Saverem was his savior, and had indeed saved him. But he was not her husband. He was not her family. He was, at most, her student. Maybe even her son. He loved her. But all the things he loved in Rem, he also loved in Meryl. She was as endearing as Rem had been. As perservering, to the very end as Rem had been. But Rem had taught him and Rem had also moved on to a better place. Meryl was a different sort of interesting. He didn't know Meryl. She was energetic and introverted. She was strong. She was warm and she was with him, sitting in the desert. For him.  
  
She had also fallen asleep. He didn't know what to do. He should pick her up and put her to bed but he didn't feel like doing so. He felt like maybe even sort of holding her for a little while. He felt a little guilty, wondering if he should do so without her awake to witness it. Five hundred years? He was worth five hundred years to her. Maybe she didn't realize that she had said that. Maybe he knew that already. Maybe he knew her better than he thought. Maybe he wasn't as experienced as he should be, concidering his age. Maybe he was just the slighest bit embarassed by that fact. Maybe she was more experienced than he was. And then maybe he began to seriously think that just maybe Meryl was right about the irrelevence of time.  
  
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Comment and Criticism quite appreciated. Thanks! Also, if anybody feels the kindness to spellcheck this for me, I'd be quite thankful. Have a nice evening!  
  
email: AMillionGirlMarch@hotmail.com 


	2. 2:Bad man

A house in the desert  
  
-Chapter two: Bad man  
  
Disclamer: Trigun and all it's characters do not belong to me.  
  
NOTE: This might spoil many things for you. This is set after the last episode of Trigun. So read at your own risk. I can't even imagine the spoilers contained in this simply because the entire story is based off of the spoilers themselves.  
  
Author's note: I definatily think I might write more than this. Who knows? I wanted to write this out, simply because i do believe in a romance between Vash and Meryl. Not a very gushy one, mind you. Because they aren't soul mates i don't think. But I do think that they keep each other quite nicely. Maybe if i get good feedback I'll continue.   
  
email address = AMillionGirlMarch@hotmail.com   
  
------------------------------  
  
A House in the desert ( chapter two: Bad Man)  
  
Meryl's eyes slowly opened, and a bright white light burned her eyes. She closed them again, and writhed uncomftorably in the light. She turned from her back to her side and burrowed her face into whatever it was she was sleeping on. Mmm... she suddenly had the smell of warm cinnamon buns around her. It's warm... She opened her eyes a little bit, and saw folds of cloth in front of her eyes, and many parallel wooden floor boards in the backround. Her eyes opened with a sudden start, looking up to see Vash's face inches from hers.  
  
She held her breath and froze. Vash the Stampede was laying on the threshold of the porch's open door front entrance, his legs raised up against the supporting beams. And there she was, curled up with him. His face was peaceful. She slid back onto her back, afraid that the change in weight distrubtion would wake him up.   
  
She looked at her feet laying between his. Her heart slowed it's frantic beating, and she began to reflect on the situation. He as one hundred and thirty nine years old, at the least. Was she uncomftorable with that? No, she didn't think so. She was just painfully aware of the fact that when the time would come for her death, he might be there. He might be at her death bed, as amazingly unaged as he is now, maybe even comftorting her as she loses her grip on life and dies quietly in her sleep. Who would be there to comfort him when he died? She could never be. She wanted people to care for Vash. She wanted the assurance that someone would be there to hold his hand as he finally did die, but she cold only feel fear. People hated Vash. They might even enjoy his death. Tears began to sting her eyes and then stopped as Vash put his arms around her waist, folding his hands together and resting them on her belly.'  
  
She froze again and twisted her head to see his face. His face was innocent and gave no hints as to what he might be thinking. She turned around in his arms and laid her head on his chest. Well if he woke up she could pretend to be asleep like he was. She felt the rise and fall of his chest, and realized how cold the desert was. she pulled her hands to herself and shivered. His arms moved further up her back and held her. She knew it, the sneak. "You're not asleep you pervert!"  
  
He yawned and gave her a goofy grin. "You got me!" She pouted and reached out and grabbed his face. She pulled it and he made a silly and pained expression.  
  
"I should have known!" she pulled and he cried uncle. She sighed loudly and let go of his face. Her arms fell around his sholders, and she pretended not to have planned it that way. She yawned and stretched, and he could feel her entire body tense and shudder. Not to mention that she was all over him! He supressed an urge to giggle. This was great.   
  
She took another deep smell of his shirt, and her eyes practically rolled back in her head. "You smell just like cinnamon buns!"  
  
"Really? that's nice. You smell like..."He leaned down to smell her hair, and she blushed. " You smell like a very clean and very fresh girl."  
  
"Well good job, Shakespeare!" she looked up at him cynically. He tensed and made a determined face.  
  
"You smell like the most rare of poisionous flower! Too beautiful to resist but potent enough to stop a man's heart!!!" he cried and she dug her fingers into his ribs. He started writhing and laughing underneth her. He ended up standing, and held out his hand to pull her up. She took it and they walked into the house.   
  
Knives sat at the table, staring at his food. His arms hung limply at his sides. His blue eyes were still fierce and cold, but simply less aggressive. He frowned and picked up his spoon, dipping it into Millie's stew. He was bitter. His bitterness was tangible, and hanging tick in the air. But nevertheless he sat there, silently, eating stew. He held a knife in his left hand, the spoon in his right. His left arm quivered and twitched.   
  
"Good afternoon, dear brother." Vash sat next to Knives, and smiled. Knives looked at him and said nothing. Knives had not spoken a word since Vash had brought him here to recover. It was a sickning and boring existence. But he deserved it. For losing, Knives had resigned to a honorabe surrender. How much longer would they be allowed to live this way? In a sickning and boring peace.   
  
For as long as you can bear it, Knives. I'll take care of you.  
  
Millie set the last bowls in front of Meryl and Vash. "You two slept in! I didn't wake you up for breakfast, you were up so late!" she smiled at them. Meryl held her hand and squeezed it. Mille then quickly rushed outside. Meryl stood from her chair to follow, then hesitated. Millie was vomiting, and Meryl wasn't so sure that she wanted to be seen. A few moments later Millie returned with a smile on her face.  
  
"Oh my god Millie, are you okay?" Meryl sat down.  
  
"I think I have the flu!" Her face was red around the nose and eyes. Meryl was worried, but let it pass. Millie left the room without a work. The screen door opened and shut.  
  
Meryl did have to admit that their life was quite boring. She didn't know how to say it, but she knew they were just biding their time. But it was nice. It was nice to have peace. It was nice to be able to be near Vash. It was nice to look at him and have him just maybe look back. Her guns were in a trunk in her room. Every single one had bullets.  
  
~!~  
  
The cross sat on a hill overlooking the house. Millie made it to the top, breathing hard.  
  
Millie sat at the cross and began to cry. She smiled, and leaned against it. "Mr. Wolfwood, honey..." She couldn't think of what to say. Well it didn't matter, she would eventually tell him. Unless he already knew. She ran her fingers through the sand blasted grooves of his cross of mercy. Every single gun inside this weapon of god was filled with bullets.  
  
She sat for a long time, watching Kives plow the fields.  
  
~!~  
  
The afternoon passed slowly. Knives tended the fields in solitude, Vash cleaned the house, and Millie or Meryl usually went to town to work their seperate waitressing jobs. But today the girls had the day off. Meryl was reading a book on the back porch and Millie was nowhere to be found.  
  
Knives harvested the field of food they were growing, and it sickened him to resign to such a feelbe fate. Bored. So bored. Everything was killing him inside. He dug a shovel into the ground, and blood began to seep from the dirt. His left eyebrow twitched. He reached down and bathed his hands in it. He raised it to his lips, and took a deep drink. Blood. Down his shirt and his arms, down his throat and chin. He began to smile. He began to write his name in blood, on the ground. He felt so good.  
  
"Knives!" Meryl cried and ran to him "You found water! Amazing! It's like we live above a lake!" She laughed as water flooded around their ankles. She splashed in it and laughed. "It's so close to the surface, i think you hit a water pipe!" she took Knives' sholders and smiled. She saw something shimmer and fall from his left hand, and she saw silver on the ground.   
  
"Don't touch me." his eyes quivered, and Meryl gasped.  
  
He hit her with enough force to knock her backwards. His fist made a sickning sound when hitting her skull. A dull and wet cracking sound. He held up his left hand, dripping with blood. Within an instant, Knives felt a hand on the back of his neck. Quivering but unfailing, Knives could feel Vash's breath on his face.   
  
" Do not touch the girls. Do not ever touch the girls."   
  
Knives licked the blood off of his fingers. Vash's hand trembled, and his lips twitched. He squeezed Knives' neck tightly enough for him to choke on his smile. Vash blinked and gasped, and let go of Knives. I'll take care of you Knives. I swear I'm taking care of you.  
  
He trembled and felt a forlorn grimace on his face. He left Knives and picked up Meryl. She whimpered. Kives was a very strong man. And he had raised his hand to a very strong woman. But there was blood all over her face. He couldn't stand her blood. He held her head firmly against his chest. He could feel the blood seeping through his shirt. He never wanted to be stained with her blood. She was such a sweet girl.   
  
He walked inside the house and into the girl's room, to find Millie sick and moaning in the bed she shared with Meryl. Vash sighed, carrying Meryl into his and Knives' room. Not that Knives ever slept in the room, but Vash had always said he had a share of it. Not tonight. This wasn't Knives' room now.  
  
He laid Meryl down in his bed, and wrapped her in the blankets. She was bleeding all over his pillow, but that was alright. He pulled bandages from a drawer in his bedside table, and began to dab at her face. He leaned over her, and brushed her hair out of her face. Where exactly had he hit her? Where was the blood coming from? He slowly felt her face, trying to find a bruise or swollen skin. He gingery ran his hand against her left temple and he felt her body tense and knot. She opened her eyes and closed them, crying out in pain.  
  
" He hit me Vash! He hit me, he hit me so hard oh no it hurts it hurts" her words slurred together as she started crying. His face was stitched with concern and he moved the hair around her temple, seeing blood and a large bump on her skin. He felt hot and his face was red. He had to keep himself under control. His anger was bubbling and boiling. But there was a girl who needed his full attention.  
  
He reached into the beside table drawer and pulled out a small pair of tweezers. "Meryl, Meryl, Meryl..." he mummured. "Shhh...Meryl I need you to be calm for a moment, Meryl." He cradeled her head with his arm and gently massaged her neck. "Meryl it's going to be okay, i'm helping you."  
  
She cried and looked up at him, choking on sniffles and sobs. His hands were so warm. She felt his touch but felt something in her head as well. She moaned and sobbed.   
  
She looked like a little girl. She was a little girl. He was old enough to be her great great grandfather.   
  
He still rubbed the tensed muscles in her neck. "Listen to me Meryl, just listen...shh...it's okay..." he whispered as he felt her relax beneth his hands. "Meryl I want you to look at me... no Meryl, here. Look at me." he stared her down. She looked back up at his green eyes and paid attention. "Trust me Meryl, i'm going to help you but i really need your help." She nodded and sniffed, twitching with pain. " I want you to close your eyes, and trust me. I need you to be still." She shuddered and closed her eyes, whimpering slightly as she felt him hold her closer. She could feel the heat from his body pressed all around her. Her arms were pressed against her chest as he held her tightly, held her still.  
  
He smelled like Cinnamon buns.   
  
He took the tweezers and brushed the hair away from her wound. He took a breath, held her close to him and presed the tweezers into her wound. Within a milisecond he had pulled the piece of metal out of her temple and her body had coiled and screamed and shook violently in his arms. Her cry was muffled into his chest and immediatley he put the tweezers on the table and held onto her. She clung to his shirt and her body softened and her cry died out. Tears ran down her cheeks and he let her go a little bit, reaching for some guaze. he pressed it to her temple and she cried more. He put his forehead against hers as he presesd it harder; his arm was still underneth her.   
  
" I'm sorry we don't have any pain medicine Meryl." he said softly. She couldn't hurt when his lips were so close to hers.   
  
" T-thank y-you..." she stuttered as he started to wrap the gauze around her forehead to hold the bandages in place. They were silent and Meryl stopped crying. She just watched his face as he intently wrapped her wound. "Is it really this bad?"  
  
" Yes. He could have killed you, hitting your temple like that. It's a sensitive area."  
  
" What did you take out..." she tried to look over at the table.   
  
" Your shirt is covered in blood." He let go of her, and got a large button up shirt from his dresser. "You can wear this tonight."  
  
" Turn around you pervert," she tried to joke. He smiled at her and turned around. She took off her shirt, sitting in her modest bra on his bed. She wondered if she should tell him to turn around...wondered if she should tell him how much she loved him. Would she seem too forward...  
  
" If if you don't like it i have more." he broke her train of thought and she quickly threw the shirt on and buttoned it.   
  
" No no, it's fine! I love it, it's soft. You can turn around now." He did so and sat next to her on the bed.   
  
" I'm very sorry, Meryl. From now on, don't go near Knives unless I'm around." He looked at her as if he had been the one that hurt her. " I don't think we'll be able to stay here much longer."  
  
She laid back down. " We?"  
  
"Knives and I."  
  
"You can't leave...Millie and I will follow you."  
  
"I guess you always do."  
  
They were silent. Vash reached to the pitcher on his beside table, pouring her a glass of water. He was always so calm. She resented that. She was always nervous around him. Was he patronizing her? She sat back up. His sholders were so wide. his shirt hung open enough to show his scars. There was nothing in the world he hadn't seen. How many women had he been with in his lifetime? How many times has he been kissed? How many times had someone run their hands through his hair, or clutched at his shirt?   
  
"What i meant to say was that..." she paused and looked up at him. She felt ice in her veins. Her heart accelerated. Maybe time accelerated. When she looked at him she felt like dying. Or living forever. " Please don't leave us. Me. Please don't leave me." She leaned forward and put her head on her sholder. "At least please....not yet. Please be here tomorrow."   
  
He put down the glass of water and put his arms around her. She was hurting. And he had made her hurt. Maybe their time together would be brief, and he would live for a hundred years more. He could never have a soul mate...he could never have a wife. But he could make Meryl happy for even just a moment in time. A blink of her eye. He held her head in his hand, and put his face in her hair. Meryl, i can make you happy. " You should rest." He laid her down and looked at her. She lay underneth him, and she looked so sad...  
  
"Vash.." she started to tell him something, but he kissed her. And she couldn't talk anymore  
  
Millie laid in bed and held her stomach. "Honey... I'm not alone without you..."  
  
Knives was outside, sitting in the water, bathing himself in it. His dinner knife was on the ground, shattered into many pieces. He laid on his back...and then rolled onto his stomach, taking a deep breath before he lay face down in the flooding mud and water.   
  
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Eh. Maybe i like it. Mostly i don't. Well anyways. That's chapter two. I don't know if I'll write anymore than this. If i get any kind of feedback, i might feel like continuing.   
  
contact: AMillionGirlMarch@hotmail.com 


	3. 3:Tall man, short man, fat man

Disclamer: Trigun and all it's characters do not belong to me.  
  
WARNING!!! SPOIL-O-RAMA!!!!! This might spoil many things for you. This is set after the last episode of Trigun. So read at your own risk. I can't even imagine the spoilers contained in this simply because the entire story is based off of the spoilers themselves.  
  
TYPCIAL AUTHOR'S NOTE: Sooooo...chapter three... i think it's pretty boring. Not much happens....i introduce some stuff....yeah....but i'm too tired to go rewrite it or make it more interesting. Fanservice = 3/4 of this chapter.   
  
email address = AMillionGirlMarch@hotmail.com   
  
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A House in the desert  
  
Chapter three /// "Tall man, short man, fat man. "  
  
The bandage on Meryl's left temple was dried with blood. She could feel the weight of gravity pulling her to bed. It was soft. It was warm. She burrowed her head into the pillow, and bumped into something. She opened her eyes and saw the bedside wall. She made a little noise and turned her back to it. She must've slept in a different direction; the wall next to her bed was supposed to be on the other side of...  
  
Vash the stampede was lying in bed next to her. She stopped breathing. She was wearing his shirt, she was in his room, she was lying in his bed, and on top of it all...she was sleeping next to him himself. Had she sleptwalk? OH GOD....had they...did they... she felt underneth the sheets. No, they couldn't have had sex...she was still wearing her skirt and tights. Well, he could have put them back on if she had fallen asleep...no, he wouldnt've tried. They were tights! Why would he go through the trouble to dress her in tights? Espically if they had had sex. She hesitated and peeked underneth the sheets. He was fully dressed, too. She wondered what she would've done if he hadn't been dresed. She blushed and put her hands over her face at the thought of it.   
  
She looked out the window. It wasn't even dawn. That's when she remembered the previous day's events. She touched the gauze on her head, and looked to the bedside table. She had tried to ask him what he had done to her head...but he had... she gasped! He had kissed her! She pushed herself away from him and put her back against the wall. What to do....what to do! He had kissed her. How do you conduct yourself after something like that? What had happened after he kissed her?   
  
She remembered his face, and his hair. She remembered him comftorting her and laying her down. She remembered looking up into his face. She remembered how determined he looked. His eyes were green. They killed her, they were so green. She remembered his hands on the bed next to her as he looked down at her. She remembered thinking that his arms weren't as long as she thought if his face was so close to hers. She remembered that for a moment, she hadn't felt so lonely. And...then what? She couldn't remember. All she could remember was the kiss and...well she couldn't remember the kiss ending at all. She couldn't even remember the kiss very well! She had just opened her eyes to find herself in bed with him.   
  
Oh god! She bit her lip and cursed. She had fallen asleep! She hit her forehead with the palm of her hand. Idiot! You don't fall asleep when someone kisses you! Or maybe she had passed out. She had been bleeding everywhere. Maybe it had been too much stress. That was a plausible excuse.  
  
She looked down at him. He laid on his side, one arm underneth the pillow and hanging off the bed. His other arm rested where she had been laying. How...irresistable. He was irresistable. He had kissed her voluntarily. How could she fall asleep on him? Well...underneth him, actually. She blushed, and wondered how far she would've gone if she had been awake. How far would she have gone if he had wanted to go further? She wondered if he had laughed at her. Maybe he had been disgusted by her. Or offended. Well... he had tucked her in. And then there was the unmistakable fact that he had voluntarily, without any obligation related to sex, slept next to her.   
  
And then of course there was the fact that he was a beautifully sweet man.   
  
She looked at the bedside table, seeing a pair of small tweezers and dried blood. She hesitated, then, on her knees, reached over Vash's sleeping body to the table. She picked up the tweezers, and a piece of silver fell from them. She picked it up, and turned it over. It was cheap metal..but sharp. Had that been...in her head! She gawked. Knives had stabbed her. She felt heat boil in her blood. Knives had stabbed her! That bastard!  
  
Without warning, Vash reached his arms up, stretching. She froze. He hooked his arms around her waist as he rolled back over on his side. She slammed down onto the bed with him, shocked. She was tense and stiff.  
  
Only inches from his face. She could feel his breath. She could smell his breath. The sleeves of his pajamas were rolled up...his arms were warm. She was warm. Her eyes felt heavy. She slowly forced herself to relax, piece by piece. He was asleep. Dead asleep. What did he dream about? Red flowers?  
  
He took a deep breath and held her tighter. Her legs were against his, her arms were straight at her sides. She slowly put her arm around his waist, and put her head against his chest. She felt honored to see Vash the Stampede at his most vulnerable. He could be shot dead. You'd think he'd sleep with one eye open.  
  
To see someone sleeping is to see someone who isn't pretending. It's honest. You would never think of destruction when looking at this man sleep. You wouldn't think of death. She never thought of death. She could think of...a kiss. She licked her lips, and wondered if she could sitll taste him. She couldn't. She only tasted air. His chin was resting on her head...she looked up. She hesistated, and felt a little guilty. He wouldn't be awake for this. But then they'd be even.   
  
She kissed him, and was shocked at what it felt like. Every muscle in her body tingled. She forgot she had legs, or arms. She couldn't imagine moving any part of her body. His lips tasted soft and warm. She could taste him breathing. She inhaled as he exhaled, and her lungs were filled with him. She was lost.   
  
For a moment, she could feel him kissing her back. Then she broke away and couldn't keep her eyes open any longer. She curled up next to his stomach and fell asleep.  
  
"...red...flowers..." A muffled sound.  
  
Vash licked his lips and smiled.  
  
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Knives woke to find flowers sprouting around him. Shit. He stood, mud dripping down his clothes. He crushed the buds underneth his boot heel. He walked to the house, leaving his hoe and trampled vegetables behind him. Though, despite the flooding, there was green all around where he had been sleeping. How retched.  
  
He opened the back door, and was welcomed by an empty kitchen. He walked to 'his' room, not bothering to knock. God, what a shithole.   
  
It was dark. The moonlight dimly lit the room. Vash was laying in bed with the short girl. He stood over them, sickened. What a waste. What a fucking waste. He was disgusted. But what could you expect from such a /i of a man? It was offensive. He reached down, and put his hand around the girl's throat. She choked, and coughed. She was poison. A parasite. A germ.  
  
She writhed, and made a face. She bit his hand, and he pulled it back. She curled back into Vash's chest, fast asleep. Knive's bloodlust was immeasurable. He looked to the bedside table, and picked up the tweezers. He held them tightly. But dropped them when he felt a hand on his arm.  
  
"Knives...go to sleep..." Vash mummured. Knives' anger abated to weariness. He left the room, and slammed the door.   
  
Meryl twitched out of sleep and looked to the door. "What happened?"  
  
"Nothing. Go back to sleep." Vash opened his eyes. He smoothed down her hair. Meryl sat up groggily, seeing the sunlight creep at the horizon.   
  
"How long can we sleep?" she slurred.   
  
"As long as we want."  
  
"Urhn...tights..." she rolled around and struggled with her tights. She pulled them off, and threw them onto the floor. Vash blushed a little when she upzipped her skirt, throwing it away. She stretched and yawned. His shirt reached almost to her knees.   
  
"What happened to Millie...i sleep with her..." Meryl's voice faltered and faded as she settled back into bed.   
  
"Oh, she wasn't feeling well."  
  
"That's nice."  
  
"Do you have a special talent, Meryl?"  
  
"..oh..i cahn....bend my legs like pretzel..and i can...read books...upside...down..." she sighed and fell asleep.  
  
He yawned and looked at her back, turned to him. He scooted next to her, and closed his eyes.   
  
Knives walked into the kitchen, and blinked through the darkness. He opened the door to the girls' room. Millie lay stretched out, covering the twin sized bed. He stood over her, staring at her stomach. He frowned. Human reproduction. He put a hand on her belly and felt something quiver inside it. Her skin stretched. Millie cried out, and rolled away from him. Knives frowned. He left the room, uninterested.   
  
Millie woke up and gasped, feeling her belly buldge. Her pants seemed so tight. She loosened them and gasped for breath. Her stomach hadn't been so big when she went to sleep! Her skin was hot. She felt her belly and wondered what had happened. Nicholas. Nicolas. She sat up, and smiled. She would name the baby Nicholas. She flung herself back down on the bed and sighed.   
  
Knives walked to the front porch. The town seemed aflame.   
  
----------------------------  
  
Vash dressed in a shirt and suspenders. It was noon. Meryl was still asleep. Millie was locked up in her room. Vash finished loading their harvested vegetables into the cart, and wiped his hands on his pants.   
  
"Let's go, Knives."  
  
They walked down the road, side by side.   
  
Meryl was at the window, watching them dissapear into the distance.   
  
Upon reaching the town, doors opened to greet Vash.   
  
"Ericks!" a small girl cried and ran up to him. He reached down and picked her up, putting her on his sholders.   
  
"So tell me what's been happening in town, cowgirl!" he held her feet. Knives pulled the cart.  
  
"Bandits!!!" she waved her toy gun in the air. "Bandits everywhere!"  
  
Three boys ran up to Vash, grabbing his sleeves.   
  
"Ericks! Ericks! My mom lost her job!" one boy cried.   
  
"No! Marc! Are you serious?" he looked down.   
  
"Yeah! She got fired because she wouldn't serve bandits at the resturant!"  
  
"Okay, what's all this I hear about bandits?"  
  
The girl, Jillan, pulled his hair. "I told you there are bandits everywhere!"  
  
They turned a corner and Vash stopped the cart. Knives stood, placid. Bored.  
  
More children showed up to clamor on about bandits. Vash put Jillan down and reached into the cart. He filled a burlap sack with carrots, turnips, and lettuce. He paused, and then threw in a few onions. He tied the sack with string and met Marc's mother at the door.   
  
"Good morning Ericks." her eyes were swollen. He smiled and handed her the sack, to which she balked. "Oh Ericks, i couldn't!"  
  
"Oh no, don't worry. It's just excess! We have too much food. Ma'am, you're doing us a favor by taking this off our hands." He put his hand on her sholder. She smiled back.  
  
"You're a good man, Ericks. Marcus! MARCUS! Come here!" she cried and grabbed her boy by the ear. "You are absolutley filthy!" she drug him inside. He made a face through the screen door, which Vash replied by sticking out his tongue and blowing a raspberry. Marc laughed.  
  
Children climbed on the cart and Vash pulled it along, with Knives trailing.   
  
Three darkly dressed gentlemen sat on the porch of the saloon across the stret, watching the procession of children.   
  
"Vash the stampede, you say?" A dark drink in his hand, the tall man pulled at his hat.   
  
"Is the reward still so high? He hasn't been seen in ages. Nobody has reported anything out of the ordinary lately." A fat man tugged at his beard.  
  
"No, i'm sure." The short man stood and pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket. "The reward won't be decreased for several years, at least. Most peole are sure he's old enough to die soon anyways. The bounty has been on his head for over twenty years."  
  
"So, what were the specifics?" The tall man fingered his gun. The fat man sat and listeed. The short man eyed the men with the children.  
  
"He's tall, blond. He is supposed to wear a red coat, but if he's laying low he would have trashed it." he paused to glance at the two blond men.  
  
"His face, his face. Does he have any scars? Distinct features?"  
  
"Long nose, long chin. Nothing out of the ordinary." The short man chewed on one of his nails as he continued. "He causes destruction. And he's supposed to be in this town. He's the bringer of death. The grim reaper." He quoted a man from Agusta, impersonating his terrified warble." 'Shoot like a bat out of hell, and pray for your life, boys.' "   
  
Knives stood next to a child who had fallen off the cart. The three men watched from the shadows. The little girl reached up a hand to Knives, and he smacked it away. She started to cry and Knives kept walking. The tall man turned to the others and raised an eyebrow. They paid more attention. The second man, with longer hair, walked to the little girl and picked her up.  
  
"What about those guys?" the bearded man asked. "They're blond enough. And that scary one was an asshole"  
  
A waitress came to their table, slightly shaking. "Can i get anything for you...gentlemen?" She held a pad of paper and pencil in her hand.   
  
"Tell us about those two men over there." the tall man pointed across the street.   
  
"O-oh...that's Ericks. He brings food to the orphanage every week."  
  
The short man took her wrist. " And the other man?"  
  
She gulped and dropped her pencil. "That's his brother, i think. He never talks. He just helps pull the cart. Nobody knows his name..."  
  
"What's he like?" her wrist began to throb.  
  
"H-he's....a very bad man...i think."  
  
"Where did they come from?" the beareded man growled.  
  
"Well..." she thought for a moment. "Nobody knows. They just...appeared. They...don't really do much except bring food every week. Ericks is a godsend. A saint." her eyes glazed over for a moment.  
  
"Thank you. Bring me another drink." he let her go. She ran back into the saloon. The short man turned to the tall man. "Tail him."  
  
"Which one?"  
  
"The bad man."  
  
"On it." in a flash the tall man was walking down the street.   
  
"What are we going to do?" the bearded man picked up the pencil from the floor. "Dead or alive?"  
  
"Dead."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"It's just fucking easier." The short man rolled up the piece of paper on the table and stood up. The bearded man followed, and they walked away. The waitress came back out with a drink in her shaking hand. "sir...?" The table was empty.  
  
-------------------------------------  
  
My e-mail: AMillionGirlMarch@hotmail.com. Reviews gladly welcomed.   
  
AUTHOR'S ENDING NOTE: Yeeeeeeeeeah i know making Millie pregnant is really cliche....kind of expected. But it's not like you ccouldn't see it coming from 60 billion double iles away. XD But I didn't think it was fair to leave Millie all alone. I just couldn't do it! ;_; what did you expect me to do? Pair Millie with Knives? OMFG THAT'S SO WRONG. *bleh* Plus i do have plans for the child. Don't worry! It will be of great importance! This chapter...not so much happened. A lot of sleeping. Yeah. Lots of sleeping. I meant it not to be so much. But i couldn't help but indulge myself! I love sleeping couples. Also, i tried as hard as i could to keep Knives in character. it's hard, though. All you ever see is him being crazy psycho kill vash during the series. How do you make him subdued? I'm trying my damned hardest!  
  
Oh and thanks to all those nice people who left me reviews! It helped a lot! I give you all hugs. XD 


	4. 4: Good Man

Disclaimer: Trigun and all its characters do not belong to me.  
  
WARNING!!! SPOIL-O-RAMA!!!!! This might spoil many things for you. This is set after the last episode of Trigun. So read at your own risk. I can't even imagine the spoilers contained in this simply because the entire story is based off of the spoilers themselves.  
  
TYPCIAL AUTHOR'S NOTE: Sooooo...chapter four...i read another fanfiction titled "When it's Over" by Baboo, and i really liked how in character and silly she(wait..mabye he. i don't know) wrote Vash. i was hoping to make him more in character with this chapter. I wanted to show him being silly and fun. Maybe I went overboard. who knows. But he's a hero! yayyy.  
  
email address = AMillionGirlMarch@hotmail.com  
  
------------------------------------------- A House in the desert Chapter four /// "the good man "  
  
A building rose in the distance. Vash smiled. A large wooden cross was nailed above the door. A gate surrounded the building, keeping danger away. As Vash crossed the threshold, Knives stayed behind. It was their...custom. Knives never entered a place where children lived.  
  
Vash galloped, pulling the cart behind him. Countless children from town screamed with delight as they clutched to the sides of the cart. "Faster faster!!!"  
  
Vash stumbled and fumbled, trying to keep afoot. He skidded to a halt at the front steps, and fell on his knees. He grasped at his chest and flailed on the ground like a fish out of water.  
  
"Oh no! Ericks!" the little girls cried and rushed to his side.  
  
"Ahhhhhhhhh! Heart attack!!!" the boys screamed and jumped on top of him. The girls joined in, and soon only Vash's feet were visible, kicking the dust.  
  
"For goodness sakes!!!" a little boy on top of the pile cried out. "This is too much for me!"  
  
"I know what he needs!" a teenage boy jumped out of the building. " I have the cure!"  
  
"Jonah! Please! Cure him!" they cried.  
  
One little girl grasped at her chest and started to convulse. "Oh no!!! It's CONTAGIOUS!" Soon all the children were shivering and howling and rolling on the ground.  
  
"I know exactly what you need!!!" he cried, cupping his hands around his face. "LOVE AND PEACE!" he crossed his fingers and held them in the air.  
  
The children looked at Jonah in silence. "What are you, stupid?" a girl stood up.  
  
"Yeah, that's pretty dumb. Not fun at all."  
  
"Eating bugs. That would be a fun cure.  
  
"Mud! Eat mud!"  
  
"LOVE AND PEACE!!!" A voice cried and echoed. Vash stood to his feet and held his hands in the air, crossing his fingers. "FOREVER LOVE AND PEACE!" Tears streamed down his face as he leaped to Jonah and hugged him. "LOVE AND PEACE!!!"  
  
The children stared at him.  
  
"LOVE AND PEACE!" Vash insisted and raised his hand in the air again as he held Jonah in a headlock. "Love and peace, i tell you!" Vash's eye twitched. "Love and peace or I'll turn you all purple!!!" he cried.  
  
The children all raised their arms in the air. "Love and peace!!!"  
  
"Jonah, dear boy!" Vash held him by the shoulders, tears streaming down his face.  
  
"Ericks!" the boy choked, tears streaming down his face as well.  
  
Vash's voice was high and choked. "You're all I could ever ask for in a son!" He pulled him into a manly embrace.  
  
Jonah bit his knuckle and choked out his words as well. "...I'm not your son!"  
  
Vash's face turned blue. "You've been lying to me all this time!" He turned away, and put his face in his hands.  
  
"Ericks..." Jonah piteously cried "It's true, I'm not your son! For your safety i had to conceal the fact that...in reality....i am...YOUR FATHER!" he spun Vash around and Vash gasped with sparkles in his eyes.  
  
The children laughed and booed. "No way! He can't be Ericks' father!" A little girl stood up with her hands on her hips.  
  
"Well then..." Vash put his hands on his hips. "That means he must be my mother!"  
  
The children hooted and rolled and held their sides. They pointed at Jonah and cried "Mommy!"  
  
"Hey Mom...I'm hungry!" Vash cried over the hoots and hollers. The children cheered. "Barbeque!"  
  
"Alright! Alright!" Jonah screamed. The kids quieted down as their acting guardian raised his hands in the air. "Due to an overwhelming majority vote..." he paused for effect. "We will now dine on.....liver and gruel thankyouverymuch!!!!"  
  
"Nooooooooo!" the children screamed and attacked Jonah. Vash jumped into his cart and pulled out several bags.  
  
"You guys wouldn't believe what i found!" he cried out. The children looked up from Jonah, who was blue in the face. "Onions..." some children cheered. "Carrots.." One girl screamed 'woo-hoo' and the rest looked at her funny. "Potatoes and...wait what's this....oh no i meant to bring vegetables!" He cried and his hit forehead. "I accidentally picked up an entire bag of beef!" The children screamed with delight and jumped all around him as he laughed and held the food above their heads.  
  
"I am the beef bandit!" he yelled and was answered with cries of 'bandits! aiee!!'. He ran away around the side of the house and the children tailed him. He got as far as the grill behind the house when he was assaulted by dozens of children.  
  
Jonah got up from the ground and went inside to get pans and bowls. With a series of crashes, Jonah made it outside with all the cooking utensils.  
  
Soon clean cooking pots filled with water were presented to Vash, who lifted them from the hands of groups of children carrying them. He placed four large pots on the grills. As vegetables were cleaned, they were chopped. As they were chopped they were dropped into the water, and as they were dropped into the water they were stirred and monitored by at least two pairs of eyes. As the stews simmered, Vash grilled the beef.  
  
In the end, two immense dinner tables inside the building were filled with children, each fidgeting with hunger. The stew was hearty, and filled with huge chunks of meat. Vash had gone all out.  
  
"BEFORE WE BEGIN!" Jonah screamed over the dinner table chaos, " WE HAVE TO GIVE THANKS." All the children bowed their heads and fell into silence. "We must thank god for making us...the ground for making good vegetables...the cows for making good meat...and Ericks for bringing it to us! Happy day!" The children clapped and Vash rose to make a speech.  
  
"It's a good day, Ericks!" Jonah sighed, as stew was splashed into bowls all over the tables. Vash looked at him and smiled. Jonah was a great guy. To take care of so many children was a feat. The boy's hair ran down past his shoulders, and he always sat straight and tall.  
  
"You're a good man. You're a great father to these kids, mother dearest."  
  
"It's the best I can do, son." Jonah crossed his arms and sat with a stoic expression on his face.  
  
"I'll be right back, Jonah." He stood and went to the kitchen to get another bowl. He filled the bowl with stew and left the house. The suns were setting, the sky was lit with fire. Vash for a moment looked at the sky with such a weariness that would kill a lesser man. His bones ached and he felt the night's coming cold bite through him. He walked to the front gate and found Knives sitting on the ground outside of it. He handed him the bowl, and a spoon. Knives took them and held them in front of his face.  
  
"You should eat, Knives. But you don't have to. We'll leave soon." he left Knives in silence.  
  
Knives sat and stared at his reflection in the bowl. He didn't want Vash's god damned charity. But he was really hungry. He ladled the stew into his mouth, and tasted blood. He took another spoonful, and then raised the bowl to his lips. The stew poured down his throat as he imagined it was something else.  
  
Vash walked back into the dining hall where the children had begun to sing songs.  
  
"I'm sorry everyone!" he shouted. "But it's my time to go home!" children booed him, and several girls came to him hugging his legs.  
  
"Oh Ericks! Don't leave!"  
  
"I had a great time today! Everybody! Remember! Love and Peace!" he waved his crossed fingers in the air. He managed to escape the children and make it out the door. Children hung out the windows and called at him. He turned around. The sun had set. It was now night.  
  
"If i can't leave now, i can't come back next week!" The children all ducked back inside. The night was blue and bright. Vash took the cart and began the march home. Stepping outside the gate he found Knives standing, covered in blood.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------  
  
The Sun was beginning to set.  
  
The tall man crept from the shadows, watching Knives. What an odd man.  
  
"What do you want," Knives stood and threw his bowl to the ground. The tall man narrowed his eyes. He had been seen.  
  
"Just a job opportunity." he stepped into the light in front of Knives. "Why don't you go inside, hrm? Have some dinner? Play games?"  
  
"Don't taunt me." Knave's eyes were empty.  
  
"It's cold out here." The tall man took a step closer. "Wouldn't you rather be inside at the fire? Wouldn't you rather curl up and sing songs with the children?" he hissed. " Wouldn't you rather?"  
  
"You will die." Knives voice dropped and rumbled. The tall man paused. "You will die. You were promised that you would die when you were born." He walked to the man and stared him down. "It was a gift." He whispered.  
  
"I don't accept gifts." the tall man tried to finish his interrogation. But this man...struck in him a fear he hadn't been prepared for. He could feel his heart beating. It thumped against his ribs.  
  
"All humans accept gifts. It's in your nature."  
  
"But not in yours?"  
  
"Never. I have no nature."  
  
"A man with no nature. A man who brings food to hungry children."  
  
The tall man pulled his gun from his holster.  
  
"What is your business here?" Knives smile dissolved.  
  
The tall man's heart began to beat faster. His left arm tingled. "To kill you...Vash the stampede!" he put his gun to Knive's chest and fired five times. Knive's body convulsed and shook with the force of the blows. Silence was broken by Knives' hysterical laughter, and he shook as he stood in a growing puddle of blood.  
  
His hands were around the tall man's neck. His heart...was beating so fast. The tall man gasped for breath and held his chest.  
  
"What, did you think you would surprise me?! Surprise me....Vash the Stampede?" His laugher was hysterical. Blood dripped from his mouth and splashed into the tall man's face. Knive's eyes were wide, his toothy grin stained red. The man's heart beat faster and faster. Knives could feel his blood racing. " I'll bring you a gift!" He took the man's head in his hands and squeezed. The tall man screamed, and his heart seared with pain. He ducked out of Knive's grip and stumbled.  
  
Knives leaped, landing on the man's stomach, knocking him to he ground. He put his hands on the man's chest, and could feel the life humming inside of him. The man choked and his eyes turned towards the sky. His heart beat faster and faster. His heart...his arm was numb. Sixty Billion Double dollars... an end to the bloodshed...was worth everything...that he had to give. The sky was dimming as the tall man choked on his own spit.  
  
Knives moved his hand directly over the man's heart.  
  
Pop.  
  
The tall man's body shook and Knives stood up. The white's of his eyes flashed and fluttered closed as he died from the heart attack.  
  
The Sun had set. It was now night.  
  
"If I can't leave now, I can't come back next week!" Vash's voice was soft in the distance. Knives dug his fingers into a hole in his chest, picking out a bullet. He threw it on the ground and spat on the tall man's corpse. He looked up to the houses across the street, and saw white faces peeking through open windows. A girl stared at him, motionless, with pure terror in her eyes. Knives lifted his bloody hand, and pointed a finger at her. He mouthed a word and she disappeared from sight.  
  
Vash walked through the gate, and dropped the cart's handles. He stood and stared at his brother. He saw blood, and a dead man lying on the ground. Death...death in the streets of a town that he loved. A man was dead within three feet of the gate to a house of god. Within plain view of the innocent eyes of children. He whirled around to face the building. No windows were open, no faces were seen in the night. No children had seen this. Vash's lips turned and he felt dizzy. Look at what he had brought upon the town. Look at what he had done. He brought them a monster.  
  
"Knives..." his voice was empty.  
  
Knives cut him off. "Has no one told you... that my name is Vash the Stampede!" he started laughing, blood pouring down his shirt and pants.  
  
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END OF CHAPTER FOUR. Hey guys...wanna hear something funny? I finished this chapter like....six months ago, right? So....I forgot I had even written it.....and I just found it whilst clearing up my hardrive...and I decided to post it for the nice people who wanted me to continue it.  
  
Okay- here's the funny part.  
  
It's been so long....I forgot how I was going to end the story! HAHAHAHAHAHA.  
  
Funny.  
  
:P  
  
-AMillionGirlMarch@hotmail.com Feedback is cooool. 


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